ˈsix-foot, a.
[See six C. 1.]
1. Measuring six feet in length, breadth, or height.
| a 1683 Oldham Par. Horace ii. xiv. 4 To have but the small pittance of a six-foot Grave. 1733 Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xi. 113 To make a Six-Foot Ridge very high, will sometimes require more Furrows. 1808 Scott Marm. i. viii, Each one a six-foot bow could bend. 1823 Byron Juan ix. xlvi, But they were mostly nervous six-foot fellows. 1872 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 301 The pump..worked on a six-foot stroke. |
b. six-foot way, the space between two parallel railway lines; also with ellipse of way.
| 1861 Star & Dials 21 Oct., The third [truck] was simply knocked into the six-foot. 1878 F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 559 The distance between the two pairs of rails (popularly called the six-foot) is here wider than usual. |
2. Containing six (metrical) feet.
| 1891 J. C. Parsons English Versification 98 The existence [in Shakspere] of occasional six-foot lines is generally admitted. [Cf. six-feet s.v. six C. 1.] |